HALLOWEEN in 4K, with John Carpenter and Jamie Lee. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, with a live re-score from Umberto and Giallo Disco’s Antoni Maiovvi. Zulawski’s POSSESSION. A Nicolas Winding Refn-focused double feature. STARRY EYES. Doc son the history of the influential 2000AD and Richard Stanley’s tumultuous journey on the set of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. A screening in celebration of the HOUSE OF THE DEVIL soundtrack on Death Waltz Vinyl. Frankly, L.A.’s BEYOND FEST 2014 has such the strong lineup, it does perfectly well to sit here and list it all off. Los Angeles residents: get stoked.

Teaming once again with American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, the second iteration of Beyond Fest is an even better slate of genre celebration. Contemporary festival hits are curated alongside true classics and cult treasures, and a host of the events (like giallo comedy THE EDITOR, 2000AD doc, FUTURE SHOCK, THE CANAL and THE ABCs OF DEATH 2) are free, thanks to a partnership with the newly launched El Rey Network.

Find the stellar rundown, including that aforementioned HALLOWEEN screening, the LA Premiere of V/H/S VIRAL and a free preview of THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (2014), as well as the full release and details, below.

Beyond Fest and the American Cinematheque announced today that they are partnering for the return of the sophomore festival, Beyond Fest, featuring the best in world genre programming, September 25th – October 4th, 2014 at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard. Tickets will be available through Fandango today.

Dedicated to delivering the elite in horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and badass cinema, this year’s Beyond Fest programming reflects a globally diverse and eclectic mix of premieres, rare repertory screenings, and special events, all of which are anchored in bringing firsts to the community of genre fans in Los Angeles. Beyond Fest has also partnered with Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network as its presenting sponsor, a partnership that will make much of the festival’s programming free to creative makers and film fans alike.

“The response was so great last year that we knew we had to bring Beyond Fest back, so much so that we immediately started planning this installment,” said Christian Parkes, co-founder of Beyond Fest. “We challenged ourselves to build on the foundation we laid and to create something that is a celebration for the audience as much as the films on the screen. Our partnership with El Rey Network is indicative of this as it allows us to share a brave, new generation of filmmakers with the film community of Los Angeles.”

L.A. premieres are integral to Beyond Fest as the festival opens with HORNS, Alexandre Aja’s (HAUTE TENSION, HILLS HAVE EYES) wonderfully dark take on Joe Hill’s explosive book, complete with a revelatory turn by Daniel Radcliffe.

Blumhouse Productions and Shock Till You Drop have joined forces to deliver a free screening of the terrifying meta-remake of THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (AMERICAN HORROR STORY) and produced by Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy, while anthology fans are rewarded with first looks at the shock-rides ABC’S OF DEATH 2 and V/H/S VIRAL, complete with cast and crew and favorite V/H/S shorts.

Jeff Goldsmith brings his wildly popular Q&A / Backstory empire to Beyond Fest for two evenings of deep discussion, first with Dan Gilroy in support of his masterful directorial debut, NIGHTCRAWLER, and then it’s a night of mischief, mayhem and soap as he talks to FIGHT CLUB author, Chuck Palahniuk, and screenwriter, Jim Uhls exploring the transition of an apocalyptic masterpiece to pitch-perfect screenplay. Preceding the discussion is a screening of David Fincher’s brilliantly caustic adaptation.

Japanese cinema plays a prominent role with three of its finest exports taking center stage. Following last year’s fan-favorite, WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL?, auteur Sion Sono returns with his deliriously over the top adaptation of Santa Inoue’s seminal manga series TOKYO TRIBE. Hot on the heels of its highly controversial domestic release, Tetsuya Nakashima’s thoroughly groundbreaking THE WORLD OF KANAKO plays a special free screening, while Hitoshi Matsumoto’s quasi-sex-comedy, R100, closes out the axis of anarchy with lead dominatrix, Lindsay Kay Hayward, on site to whip the audience into shape.

This year’s L.A. Spotlight shines on directors Dennis Widmyer & Kevin Kolsch who brings their black tale of fame-at-all-costs to the Egyptian’s apt Hollywood locale for STARRY EYES. Joined by the film’s cast and crew, Dennis & Kevin will follow his local bow with the film they cite as a heavy influence: Andrzaj Zulawski’s masterpiece of nuanced terror, POSSESSION.

Integral to Beyond Fest’s slate is the partnership with El Rey Network. As Presenting Sponsor, El Rey Network is making the 80-seat Spielberg Theatre accessible to all under the banner of “El Rey’s ‘The People’s Network’ Theatre” and screening eight films from the most original directors in the world of genre film including: HYENA (UK – LA premiere), THE EDITOR (Canada – LA premiere), NORWAY (Greece – LA premiere), FUTURE SHOCK! THE STORY OF 2000AD (UK – LA premiere) and THE CANAL (Ireland – LA premiere)

“These screenings are free of charge because we believe in the filmmakers behind them: these are brilliant films from all across the world and we want to expose audiences to them,” said Grant Moninger, American Cinematheque programmer. “It’s important to share bold, unique talent on the big screen, it’s where a filmmakers craft shines the most.”

Repertory titles play a prominent part of Beyond Fest and this year is no exception with a handful of massive events:

Produced in partnership with the French Consulate, Meltdown Comics and RADiUS, SNOWPIERCER creator, Jean-Marc Rochette, and DC Comics Publisher, Jim Lee, will discuss the process of translating creative vision from the comic book to the big screen before Bong Joon-ho’s stunning epic rolls overhead. Complimenting SNOWPIERCER will be the world premiere of Jesus Castro-Ortega’s behind the scenes documentary.

ONLY GOD FORGIVES provides the inspiration for the LA premiere of MY LIFE DIRECTED BY NICOLAS WINDING REFN, an illuminating and intimate portrait of Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn, directed and shot by his wife, Liv Corfixen. Documenting Refn’s journey to bring ONLY GOD FORGIVES to the big screen, Corfixen is honest and unflinching with her lens capturing Refn is a way previously unseen outside of his inner crew and, in many cases, outside of Corfixen herself. Liv Corfixen and Nicolas Winding Refn will sit in conversation between the two films.

Geoff Boucher’s Humans From Earth Nerdist podcast pairs together John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis for the first time ever to discuss the making of the all-time classic, HALLOWEEN. Complete with the brand-new 4K re-master supervised by HALLOWEEN cinematographer, Dean Cundy, and a screening of El Rey’s THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR with John Carpenter and Robert Rodriguez, this is one for the ages.

The stars of Comedy Central’s late night stand-up smash THE MELTDOWN WITH JONAH AND KUMAIL bring their film-loving humor to Beyond Fest for “A Night at the Movies with THE MELTDOWN WITH JONAH AND KUMAIL featuring THE MONSTER SQUAD.” Before screening THE MONSTER SQUAD, Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani will grab the mics to share their deep and slightly twisted love of movies before being joined by THE MONSTER SQUAD director, Fred Dekker, where they will discuss the size of The Wolfman’s nards amongst many other topics.

Seminal soundtrack label and Beyond Fest partner, Death Waltz Recording Company returns with a double bill event that was a year in the making. Opening the night is a screening and live re-score of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE by musicians Umberto and Antoni Maiovvi, who have composed an 88 minute piece that plays alongside the film’s existing audio tracks. A limited double album will be made available exclusively at the screening. Not content with just one release, Death Waltz is also dropping the long-awaited score to Ti West’s breakout shocker, HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, complete with screening and cast and crew Q&A.

BEYOND FEST 2014 PROGRAM

EGYPTIAN THEATRE:

• NIGHTCRAWLER presented by Backstory

2014

dir. Dan Gilroy

United States

117 minutes

Dan Gilroy in person

•THE WORLD OF KANAKO / KAWAKI – LA Premiere – FREE SCREENING

2014

dir. Tetsuya Nakashima

Japan

118 minutes

• THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN presented by Shock Till You Drop and Blumhouse Productions – FREE SCREENING

About the author

Samuel Zimmerman

Fangoria.com Managing Editor Samuel Zimmerman has been at FANGORIA since 2009, where fresh out of the Purchase College Cinema Studies program, he began as an editorial assistant. Since, he’s honed both his writing and karaoke skills and been trusted with the responsibility of jury duty at Austin’s incredible Fantastic Fest. Zimmerman lives in and hails from The Bronx, New York where his pants are too tight and he’ll watch anything with witches.